With the household registration booklet in hand, An Ning had originally planned to get everything done in one go.
But it wasn't until she arrived at the police station that she learned there was no after-hours service window in this era—documents could only be processed during weekday office hours, Monday through Friday.
Since she couldn't get it done, An Ning wasn't in a hurry to return to school. She studied the bus stops for a while, hopped on several buses, and toured the livelier parts of Jiangcheng.
After she'd had enough of sightseeing, she bought a white blouse and a pair of slightly flared jeans at the night market, then headed back to the school library to continue reading.
Her roommates Shu Xiaoshan and Shi Jiayan had both gone home, so An Ning slept peacefully. The next day, she got up as usual, went for a run, and recited English.
The only difference was that at eight o'clock, she changed into her new, fully dried clothes and put on some light makeup.
The remaining roommates, seeing her dressed up, all breathed a sigh of relief—they'd been afraid she'd spend the weekend studying herself to death again, leaving them no room to breathe.
Standing before the half-length mirror, An Ning studied her reflection.
The original owner was 1.66 meters tall. With the padded-shoulder blouse and slightly loose pants, her figure no longer looked so fragile and girlish.
She wasn't wearing makeup to make her face prettier—she'd thickened her brows and contoured her nose bridge, hoping to dilute the youthful softness of her features.
But her natural features were what they were. The deep-set eye sockets made her look more mature, while also giving her fox eyes a hint of a young woman's allure, caught between girlhood and womanhood.
This would have to do.
Tucking a pale pink color-changing lipstick into her bag, An Ning left the school and took the bus to the China International Trade Fair, following the route she'd mapped out the day before.
On the bus, she could already feel how crowded the route was. When she got off, the streets were bustling—foreign businessmen were everywhere, and the second most common sight was local bosses with moussed hair, wearing suits and clutching leather briefcases.
An Ning scanned the area, found her spot, set up the sign she'd prepared, and waited by the roadside for work to come to her.
The sign was simple—her name, her major, and the type of job she was applying for.
After quitting her job at the disco a few days ago, she'd thought carefully about how someone her age could survive in this era.
Asking An Jianhua for money was out of the question. The original owner couldn't bear to lower herself to beg, and she wasn't about to go talk to An Jianhua about juvenile protection laws.
Besides, judging from the original owner's troubled future, staying tangled up with the An family would only cause more problems.
This era had been described by later generations as a time when even pigs could fly if they stood at the right place.
Industry was growing at breakneck speed, and the internet was a vast blue ocean of opportunity.
The reason she was so eager to get her ID card was to seek opportunities online.
Since her ID card wasn't ready yet, she'd have to fall back on the industry she knew best.
After starting university, she'd learned that the law major required extensive reading and translation of English legal texts.
After her teacher pointed out that her English accent was too heavy, she'd thrown herself into studying English seriously for a while.
Later, when she found out translation paid well, she'd simply taken English as a minor.
During her university years, she'd taken on plenty of translation work—though those were all professional texts. As for spoken interpretation, she'd been gradually regaining her fluency over the past few days at school. It should be fine.
"Law and English major, business contract drafting, translation…"
There weren't many people in the job-seeking area, and An Ning stood out conspicuously among the crowd.
Her face worked in her favor—every boss looking for a translator would glance at her sign first.
"Can you speak foreign languages? How well?"
A middle-aged man of short stature with a slight accent read An Ning's sign. Seeing that An Ning hadn't written down a school name, he looked around at the others.
Of the remaining few people, some had dark skin and poor appearances, while others didn't dare meet his eyes.
In the end, his gaze fell back on An Ning.
An Ning was good-looking, that was one thing, but mainly he figured that foreign languages were such a fancy thing—people who looked as rustic as he did couldn't possibly speak them well. An Ning had fair skin and a refined temperament; she looked like a city girl from a well-off family with a quick mind.
"I don't know Japanese or Cantonese, but my spoken English is decent."
An Ning hadn't expected an employer to come so quickly. Although she had been aiming for positions like document translation or drafting, she wasn't picky at all when work came her way.
An Ning smiled politely at the man and repeated her self-introduction directly in English.
Her fluent accent made even the students waiting for work take a few extra glances at An Ning. A male student who had been about to step forward to recommend himself upon hearing An Ning say she didn't know Japanese or Cantonese stopped in his tracks.
What he had assumed "decent" meant was like him—stringing together a few English words with hand gestures.
An Ning's level could rank among the top students in an English department; who knew which school she was from.
The middle-aged man was also satisfied with what he heard. He couldn't understand English, but he could still tell whether someone spoke fluently and with confidence.
"This is my factory—we make bamboo-woven crafts. Baskets, ornaments, we can do it all, and we can also customize pieces to order. Give me an introduction."
The middle-aged man handed An Ning a business card.
The front had the man's name and title; the back listed the bamboo factory's business scope and the specific address.
An Ning ran through it in her mind, looked up to meet Director Zhou's eyes directly, and introduced the information on the card.
A long stretch of English—Zhou Hongjun couldn't understand a word of it, as if he only heard his own name.
"That settles it, you're the one. Two hundred a day. If that works, come to the booth."
An Ning nodded immediately, put away her sign, and followed Zhou Hongjun to the booth.
There were a few factory employees at the booth, and they were all quite pleased that Zhou Hongjun had brought An Ning. Whatever else, at least the booth's appearance had gone up a notch.
Once at the booth, An Ning learned some basic information about Hongjun Bamboo Factory and got busy. Quite a few foreign buyers were interested in bamboo-woven crafts, especially the Japanese.
The Japanese visitors' English wasn't good, so An Ning had to use a little English, a little Japanese, plus hand gestures to introduce the products.
The translation abilities at each booth varied widely, but since communication went smoothly at An Ning's, more people gathered there.
Of course, the most important thing was that bamboo-woven crafts were popular among foreign buyers.
Picking up on this, An Ning communicated with the foreign buyers while jotting down in a notebook the requirements they emphasized and the product forms they wanted.
She was serious in her work, and both the customers and Boss Zhou were thoroughly satisfied.
A factory owner familiar with Zhou Hongjun, seeing the crowd gathered around his booth, couldn't help but say enviously, "Old Zhou, where did you find that translator? You didn't really just pick her up at the door, did you?"
Director Wei was not a first-time participant in the East China Fair. He knew that the quality of interpreters directly affected sales volume, so before the fair, he went to the Foreign Language University to find a top student. Little did he know, the student he found had decent spoken English but froze when faced with Japanese clients, claiming he couldn't understand the English spoken by Japanese people.
"She wasn't recruited at the entrance—where else could she have come from?"
Zhou Hongjun hadn't expected to strike gold either. Seeing An Ning wave him over, he quickly jogged to her side. After An Ning's brief introduction, he discovered that the foreign buyer who had been inspecting the goods wanted to sign a contract with him.
It was the first day of the East China Fair, and it wasn't even noon yet. Usually, clients would browse several booths before making a decision, but unexpectedly, a deal had already been closed.
Zhou Hongjun's factory was a small operation. He'd always heard that foreigners loved these bamboo-woven products, but previously, they were purchased by domestic middlemen. He had no idea which countries his factory's goods ended up in or at what prices they were sold.
He had come to the East China Fair just to test the waters, never expecting to actually close a deal.
"Xiao An, excellent, excellent!"
Zhou Hongjun wanted to pat An Ning on the shoulder but felt it inappropriate, so he simply gave her a thumbs up, expressing his satisfaction with her enthusiastically.
"It's our factory's product quality that's solid."
An Ning didn't take the credit. She picked up the photo of the Red Army Bamboo Weaving Factory from the booth. "Director, if you have photos of the production site, you should bring more. Foreign buyers care about environmental protection. If they can see where the bamboo comes from, they'll feel more at ease. It would be even better if one of us could weave crafts on the spot—a live demonstration at the booth would attract more attention."
Director Zhou was a first-time participant at the East China Fair with no experience, and neither did An Ning. But through her interactions with these buyers, she realized that foreign clients had a huge demand for bamboo-woven crafts. As long as the Red Army Bamboo Weaving Factory performed well, they would surely reap significant rewards at this fair.
Zhou Hongjun was someone who took advice well. He immediately sent someone to the guesthouse to fetch supplies, then pulled a box of processed bamboo strips from under the booth, grinning sheepishly. "I was originally thinking that if clients wanted to see the production process, I'd have the craftsman demonstrate for them. Your suggestion is good, Xiao An—let's have the craftsman weave right at the booth. That'll draw people in!"
An Ning examined the raw materials carefully. "Director, since our materials and craftsmanship are this good, we need to let everyone see them."
"Right, right, right. Whatever you say, Xiao An."
Having closed a deal so quickly, whatever An Ning said now, Zhou Hongjun agreed with.
In no time, more clients arrived at the booth. An Ning didn't let Zhou Hongjun run off—she brought him along to communicate with the buyers.
Domestic labor was cheap, and foreign buyers weren't actually most concerned about the purchase price. What they cared about were environmental protection, craftsmanship, and delivery timelines.
With the success of the first deal, two more followed.
The Red Army Bamboo Weaving Factory had been featured in the local newspaper. Zhou Hongjun had originally been afraid of communicating with foreigners, but after An Ning analyzed what foreigners wanted and with successful cases under their belt, whenever a client came to look at the goods, he'd wave the clipped newspaper article and talk up a storm, regardless of whether the other party understood him.
This both boosted their presence and lightened An Ning's load.
With a moment of respite, An Ning finally had time to grab her water bottle and down half of it in one go.
"That booth sure is lively."
Noticing Huo Qin's gaze, Guan Sheng glanced in the direction he was looking.
His gaze first landed on a middle-aged man whose movements were broad and spirited, full of energy, and then on a female employee drinking water beside him.
Her fair chin tilted upward, and as she lowered the mineral water bottle, her face was fully revealed.
She was a beauty, just as the aura she exuded when her face was hidden had suggested.
Realizing he had been staring at a stranger's face without pause, Guan Sheng coughed and said to Huo Qin, "That booth should be bamboo weaving crafts. These kinds of handmade items are very popular with foreign buyers."
Huo Qin hummed in acknowledgment. After figuring out why An Ning seemed familiar, he glanced at her now-black hair, then looked away and stopped paying attention to her.
It was a one-sided encounter—Huo Qin remembered who she was, and that was all.
Little did he expect that their fates were not so shallow, as they crossed paths again in the afternoon.
This time, they saw each other face to face. Huo Qin raised an eyebrow slightly. Up close, he confirmed that black hair indeed suited her better.
It accentuated her delicate features, giving her the quiet elegance of a classical beauty.
The eye contact made Huo Qin ready for her to come forward and thank him.
But one step, two steps—until An Ning passed right by him, he hadn't snapped out of it.
The kind and handsome gentleman?
In her eyes, was "handsome" a term for a generic-looking face?